che_gilson

Once upon a time, before the collapse of TOKYOPOP they were going to do a Jim Henson's The Storyteller anthology like they made the Labyrinth anthology. When my editor told me about the two projects I really wanted to do the Storyteller because I loved that show as a kid and it was the only thing I could think up a story for. There was a super tight deadline involved and I found a fairy tale to base my story on. I story from the Isle of Mann in Britain called The Buggane. Over the space of three days I watched the Storyteller nonstop and wrote my audition script. I wrote it while watching the Storyteller DVDs in order to capture the voice and transitions of the TV show.

The editor of the project apparently loved my script and I was really proud of it. I put a lot of work into it and it was a challenge to write chracters I hadn't created. Then the shit hit the fan at TP, the project changed editors and of now I couldn't say if it will ever happen. My thought is it won't. They seem to have dropped almost all books done by Americans.

But I wanted to post my script because I like it.

The Buggane

By Che Gilson

Page 1

Panel 1: Interior of the Story Teller’s cottage. The fire is lit and it’s nighttime. A wind howls and a tree branch scratches the window.

SFX: Oooooowoooooo…

SFX: Sktch, Skritch

Panel 2: The Story Teller puts another log on the fire. His dog perks his ears and shivers as the wind howls louder.

SFX: OOOwhooo!

Dog: I hate nights like this!

Story Teller: It’s a cold night all right…

Dog: You…you don’t suppose anythin’s out there, do you?

Panel 3: The Story Teller looks up, head cocked.

Story Teller: Well, there could be anything out there.

Panel 4: Dog covers his eyes with his paws.

Dog: Don’t say that!

Panel 5: The Story Teller sits down in his chair.

Story Teller: But, I know what’s not out there. The Buggane’s not out there.

Panel 6: The dog lifts a paw and peeks out.

Dog: The Buggane?

What’s that?

Page 2

Panel 1: The Story Teller leans into the camera addressing the audience.

Story Teller: What indeed? A huge beast, a hairy beast, black as midnight and mean as a

wasps' nest. That’s the Buggane. Or was the Buggane.

Panel 2: Dog perks up now interested. He looks up at the Story Teller and the Story Teller looks at his

dog.

Dog: Was the Buggane? What happened?

Story Teller: Well, I’ll tell you…

Panel 3: In one of the paintings in Story Teller’s cottage is a silhouette of a building under construction surrounded by a group of stone masons chipping blocks.

Story Teller V.O.: Some time ago, in a little town, on a little island, home to one little church, a new

church was being built.

Panel 4: The sun sets in the picture and the stone masons abandon their work and run away.

Silhoutte man 1: The sun is going down! Clear out! Clear out!

Story Teller V.O.: The building of the church wasn’t going very well. For every night,

when darkness came, the Buggane rose up through a hole it tore

in the floor…

Panel 5: Interior of the church, a huge shaggy, horned beast rips through the floorboards of

the half-finished church.

SFX: Krash!

Story Teller: It crashed and ripped and tore and thrashed.

Panel 6: The shadow of the Buggane looms over the dog in the Story Teller’s dog. The dog stares up, eyes wide, shaking.

Story Teller (off panel): Tearing down all the work the stonemasons had done during

the day.

Page 3

Panel 1: Higher angle over the shadow, over the dog. The new angle shows the shadow is the Story Teller, leaning over.

Dog: That’s ‘orrible! All their work undone?

Panel 2: The Story Teller sits down in his chair.

Story Teller: Undone, and done. Every morning the masons came back to work to find they

had it all to do again.

Panel 3: The stonemasons looked at the half-finished church. One of them throws his hat down.

Mason 1: Undone again!

Mason 2: It’s that beast!

Mason 3: Something must be done!

Panel 4: The town square. The mayor, a tall man with a fur-trimmed coat and a big chain around his neck, is trying to calm the townspeople. Beside him stands his pretty daughter. The townspeople crowd the square. In the crowd are the stonemasons. At the front stands a young, handsome tailor.

Mason 1: Something must be done!

Mason 2: It’s that beast!

Mason 3: We have to start over again!

Panel 5: The mayor raises a placating hand.

Mayor: I agree! I agree! But who will do it?

Page 4

Panel 1: The Story Teller sits in his chair addressing the audience.

Story Teller: Who indeed! Who could fight the dread Buggane? A soldier? A knight? A king?

Panel 2: Change angle to include dog and fire.

Story Teller: This was just a little town on a little island. It didn’t have a king, a knight, or a soldier.

Panel 3: Two silhouettes, a man and a woman approach each other; behind them is the Story Teller’s fire and grate.

Story Teller V.O.: What this town did have was a tailor.

Panel 4: Small panel close-up of dog. Dog looks incredulous.

Dog: A tailor!?

Panel 5: Small panel, close-up. The Story Teller is sincere.

Story Teller: A tailor.

Page 5

Panel 1: The silhouettes before the fire embrace fondly.

Story Teller V.O.: A brave tailor, a clever tailor. A tailor named Timothy who was in love with the mayor’s daughter.

Panel 2: The silhouettes are no longer silhouettes but seen is the tailor from the crowd and the mayor’s daughter. The fire still roars behind them but it’s changing into trees.

Panel 3: Timothy and the mayor’s daughter stand beneath a tree in an old churchyard.

Story Teller V.O.: They wanted to be wed very badly but Timothy was just a tailor, poor but good, and the mayor’s daughter was good but wealthy and her father would never see his only daughter wed to a tailor.

Panel 4: Timothy takes the mayor’s daughter’s hand. She looks at him. He looks at her.

Mayor’s daughter: I wish we could be wed.

Timothy: We will, my dear.